I'm so excited because.....

My sister Melissa gets married ONE MONTH FROM TODAY!!

OMG I get another brother-in-law! I am pumped. Although I've never met Jake except for a few Skype chats, I think he's gonna be a great hubby for my sister. Wow that sounds so weird. Aren't they just as cute as all get out? (I've heard that all get out is really something, hence the comparison) Check out their wedding website: http://weddings.theknot.com/pwp/pwp2/view/MemberPage.aspx?coupleid=5174784490155557&pid=2712317

Life is changing. Holly just finished her college internship and is now a Child Life Specialist applying for jobs. Melissa is getting married! Not much is happening for Mike and me, we're just carrying on with life, trying to not get run over in the process!

This Christmas we'll have 2 married couples visiting my parents house. So far, it looks like the newlyweds will get Melissa's old room, and we'll be out on the sofa bed. But if I'm only able to make it to TX once a year to see my family, personally I don't care where I sleep. Just so I'm there with my family. And it will be fun to watch Jake observe the Emerson family Christmas traditions for the first time. Funnier because Mike is starting to catch on....

So anyway back to the wedding. Mike and I will be leaving on Thursday 9/24 for Savannah, GA where Jake & Melissa live, and also where they will be getting married. On top of that, we're staying an extra 3 days for our vacation! Good thing they live in a vacation spot! This will be my first wedding as a "Matron of Honor" and it makes me feel so experienced and old! Haha! Mike and I are SO in need of a vacation, so we are really looking forward to this.

Until then, we have to keep our noses to the grindstone and keep praying that God gives us patience! I have a feeling that this fall is going to fly!

My Love

Our 2nd wedding anniversary was over a month ago, and with the busy-ness of work, work, and work, I never got to dedicate a post to my wonderful husband, Michael. I posted something similar last year, but it's time for an update. Being married for 2 years has had its share of ups and downs, but it has definitely been a fun ride. I'm so glad that God led me to Indianapolis to meet him and start the next chapter of my life. Here are some wonderful things that I have learned about Mike since we got married, and the things that I love most about him:

• The boy could watch cartoons all day long. He mostly favors GI Joe, Batman, Superman, and Star Wars. When we were dating, once I invited him over for breakfast and Saturday morning cartoons. To me that meant Bugs Bunny and Tom & Jerry. To him, that meant superheroes.
• He prays with me every morning before he leaves for work. I am usually an hour away from having to wake up, and even though I'm more than half-asleep he takes the time to go to the Lord with me in prayer.


• He prays with me each evening before we go to sleep (that is, unless we hit the sack at different times).


• He complains all week about having to get up so early, but he often up and at 'em early on Saturday mornings.


• One of my favorites: he can swish Listerene for several minutes without it burning his mouth. After 30 seconds my eyes look bloodshot and I'm almost in tears! And YES, he does spit it out.


• He supports me in my Pampered Chef business so faithfully. He does a great job of selling too! We were in David's Bridal a few mos ago and while I was in the dressing room, he was talking to the lady who works there about my business! Hilarious!


• He taught me to fish this year. I'm still not baiting the hooks, but I grabbed the fish I caught off the hook!


• When he hears a song on the radio or on TV, he starts dancing and it is SO funny.


• He has become more disciplined (which is influencing me of course) about saving money for our future house.


• He tells me I'm pretty even when I don't feel pretty.


• He puts up with my whining, which I am working to reduce.


• He likes to watch The Real Housewives of .... with me. Oh and The Hills. His commentary on all of it cracks me up. He draws the line at The Golden Girls. I draw the line at Star Trek.


• One of our favorite things to watch together are reruns of Friends. We just sit in the bed and laugh together.


• He never ceases to amaze me... last year we did a 5K and on our practice walks, I always leave him in the dust b/c I walk pretty fast. But he took off running at the race and finished several minutes before I did! I didn't know he had it in him!


• I have learned that it probably isn't a good idea to travel with him to cities that have toll roads... toll roads Mikey no likey.


• He loves to read instructional do-it-yourself books about electrical work. I look at it and it makes no sense to me. He has the knack.


• He gets the paper for me every Saturday at Meijer so I can get my coupons.


• He helps me carry in the groceries.


• I find the Bible out on the table most mornings when I wake up. It makes me feel good that my spiritual leader is spending time in the Word almost every day.


• When I come home on Tuesday nights, exhausted from work and being at Riley, he welcomes me into a big hug.

Oh I could go on for days! But maybe I'll save some for next year.

Thanks for being the best husband ever! I'll try to be the best wife I can be. I love you, Honey!

What's up with us?

Thanks everyone for listening to me in my post yesterday. It was like a huge weight lifted off my shoulders to get all that in writing! I read it over and over and over, debating whether is was post-worthy or not. But then I realized that it is pretty relatable material, and decided to go for it.

Mike and I have been extremely busy over the past month, and I wanted to update everyone on what's been going on.

1) The second weekend of July I went to Chicago for the annual Pampered Chef National Conference. I took the Megabus up there all by myself and it was no big deal! Got to Union Station and hailed a cab to the hotel. I'm a big girl! I had so much fun learning about ways to grow my business and was able to soak up some knowledge from some very "seasoned" consultants! I even sat on the shuttle bus next to one lady who was being honored for $1 million in sales! Wow! Then again she's been at it for 18 years! Here are some pics:

Here I am in the video kitchen at the home office. This is where they do all the instructional recipe videos online! Fun!

Opening session kicked off with song and dance! I was impressed!

And this was one of the most exciting moments! This is me with Doris Christopher, the President and Founder of The Pampered Chef! She started the business in her basement almost 30 years ago as a way to make money and stay home with her kids. Thanks Doris!

"Pampered Chef America!" Haha.

Here's Ashley and I with WAHOO Woman!

On our last night following the Executive Banquet, we got our DANCE on!

And on Saturday morning I was invited to a "first-timer's" breakfast with Doris Frame, who has been in the business 18 years! She is so helpful.

This conference was so much fun and really got me extra-excited about working my business around my crazy work schedule. I left with a camp high! And all the while, my sweetie was here in Indy, probably watching all the GI Joe cartoons he could stand and eating all the McDonalds his body could hold. Life's tough. :) More pictures from the conference can be viewed on my facebook page at www.facebook.com/rachelcouts.

2) Mike came to pick me up in Chicago and we spent the day there. Mike HATES this city b/c of all the traffic and the toll roads. Me, I'm used to it from growing up in Houston. But b/c I was there and he knows I like the city, he came and got me. We spent the day walking around Navy Pier, eating ice cream and some good seafood.

This post is already really long, so I'll only post one pic of the trip. These can also be found on my facebook page.

I hope to keep up a little better. Good luck, huh Rach?

Anger

Wow, that sounds ominous, doesn't it?

No really. Our pastor has been doing a sermon series recently entitled "How to Kill Relationships and Irritate People." I had no idea how convicting it was going to be, and I don't think anybody else did either. If you want to take a listen, visit www.yourchurch.com. Be ready to feel 2 inches tall.

I've always known that I get frustrated with things easily, and it always depends on what else is going on... but I never translated that into "anger" because it is never long-lasting. I get more short bursts of anger. One thing that the pastor said (among many) that really made me listen, was a challenge that Jonathan Edwards gave to himself:

"Try to never become angry at an inanimate object."

Sounds kinda dumb, right? Yes, but incredibly relatable for me. I become angry with my work computer (not my Mac) on a regular daily basis. Like really angry. I work at home, so letting my feelings out is a little easier than if I were in the office. Our retired neighbor who is home all day long probably thinks I'm a psycho b/c of all my outbursts in frustration with this machine. I don't get frustrated with people nearly as much as I get angry with inanimate objects. My computer. My hair. The kitchen floor (it has these little grooves that harbor dirt and I can NEVER get it out). The dishwasher.

I become extremely frustrated with things I cannot control. But wait... isn't that one of the things that anger is borne out of? The fact that we want to control what goes on in our lives? Isn't that what they call "pride?" A-HA!

It seems that most of my anger and frustration comes out of discontent. I become bored very easily and I like change, to a point. If I had my way, we would be living in a house, have at least one child, Mike would still be working, and I would be at home with said child, doing Pampered Chef full-time. That is my dream. And I want it now. I wanted it like a year ago. So far, no dice. My job is currently soul-squelching, exhausting, and I am totally, completely 100% burned out. Sometimes I even question if I want to stay in the health field. We are living in an apartment that is wall-to-wall stuff, and I can't do anything about it. I like to have my home clean, and I just can't get it clean because of all the crap. There's just not room for it. We are busting at the seams right now. And of course, because of the lack of space, there are no kids. I am doing Pampered Chef part-time and it's actually going really well. It's just that I know it would probably be going AMAZING if I had the time and opportunity to do it full-time.

I go to church, read blogs, and see people who are exactly where I want to be. Their life may not be glamorous, but it's what I want. And I think something that makes it harder, is that I'm probably closer than ever to actually having it. It's like it's so close, yet so far away!

It's interesting how we change as we grow. My biggest source of anger used to be traffic. Now it seriously doesn't get me like it used to. Indianapolis mellowed me out.

I know that God is using this time to mold me and get me ready for what's next.
1. Living with a roommate the year before Mike and I got married definitely prepared me for a spouse.
2. Allowing me to start a business with PC before I can do it full-time is allowing me to get good at it so that when the opportunity to go full-time approaches, I'll know what I'm doing!
3. Making me wait for kids is giving me more time to observe families around me, and learn about what to do when that time comes for us.
4. Dealing with an apartment that will never actually be clean is teaching me that the world doesn't end if the bathroom floor isn't swiffered today. I would love to see the statistics for death by clutter. Hmmm.
5. Living with a man who watches more cartoons than most children must be preparing me for the household of boys we'll end up with some day!
6. Having a hubby who is a picky eater is getting me ready for the kids who consistently ask, "What's the green stuff?"
7. And last of all, only having to care for one person (Mike) has given me more opportunities to reach out to others too.

I want to ask for prayer from any/all of my blog-readers that I would continue to see my anger and frustration and not view it as failure, but as a way to grow. And that I would "breathe grace." I want to be a woman Mike looks forward to seeing every evening, not a haggard, exhausted, over-worked person who has no time for him. I think that Satan uses my job as a way to tempt me to sin over and over and over again. I need to look at all my responsibilities and view them as blessings, rather than headaches. Chances to learn.

There. I did it again. Called the computer a freakin' piece of crap.

This isn't going to be easy.

Seeing myself on screen

Saturday, Mike and I saw Julie & Julia and I have never related so much to a character in a movie as I did with Julie. Wow. It was weird. Through the entire movie, Mike and I would exchange glances and know what the other was thinking. "oh my gosh, that's me."

First of all, this is a very sweet movie for both men and women, but I guess it would fall under the "chick flick" category. But there were plenty of men in the theater, but they were with their female significant others.

If you don't know the premise of the movie, then head over to http://www.imdb.com/ and look it up.

There were glaring similarities between myself and one of the main characters, Julie Powell.

J: She works on the phone in a cubicle and takes complaints for a living.

R: I work on the phone (used to work in a cubicle) and listen to people complain for a living.

J: She is married to a sweet, adorable, encouraging man who listens to her and supports what makes her happy.

R: So am I.

J: Her family lives in Texas. (Her mother was not supportive, but mine is, so that's a diff)

R: I have family in Texas.

J: She wants to change the world.
R: So do I.

J: Cooking is her stress-reliever.

R: Oh boy, I don't know what I would do if I didn't like to cook!

On that, somewhere in the movie, she said something like "It's good to know after a long day where nothing is certain, I can come home and know for sure that chocolate, eggs, and flour will make a cake." I totally identified with that. After a long day of zero certainty, I can come home and know that powdered sugar + butter + vanilla extract + milk will always equal an amazing sugary glaze. That is so comforting. It always works.

There were several conversations in the movie that Mike and I have had. Times where we sit on the bed into the wee hours of the morning, talking about our feelings (OK, I talk about my feelings) and about our dreams/plans for the future. Some conversations are tearful, and some have us in stitches!

There were times in the movie where her husband Eric came in and helped her when she couldn't take it anymore, and Mike would totally do the same.

Now I want to make it clear that while watching this movie and noticing all the similarities, I wasn't exactly proud of the fact that I was just like her.... she was a brat and possibly difficult to live with sometimes. And I know I definitely am at times.

It is difficult being a wife sometimes.... working full-time with too much overtime, having a part-time job (that I really love, but it takes time away), all this while trying to keep our apartment livable and a husband happy and fed. I can't imagine trying to do it all with kids too! Sometimes it's hard to create priorities, and find the work/life balance. As it turns out, according to surveys, this is the thing that most women find the most difficult to do.

All this to say, hats off to Nora Ephron for Julie & Julia. And Meryl Streep was adorable as Julia Child. Have you ever watched JC on youtube? You can see her programs, and I love how she's imperfect and totally OK with that.

We could all learn a little from both these women!